On the contrary, she had found an ideal love, and a happiness such as every true, womanly woman must, in her heart of hearts, desire.
It was far into the night when Kitty, wakeful and restless, heard the sound of a horse's feet.

She could not know that it was Honorable Patches riding past on his way to the ranch on the other side of the broad valley meadows.
Weary in body, and with mind and spirit exhausted by the trials through which he had passed, Patches crept to his bed.

In the morning, when he delivered his message, the Dean, seeing the man's face, urged him to stay for the day at the ranch.

But Patches said no; Phil was expecting him, and he must return to the outfit in Granite Basin.

As soon as breakfast was over he set out.
He had ridden as far as the head of Mint Wash, and had stopped to water his horse, and to refresh himself with a cool drink and a brief rest beside the fragrant mint-bordered spring, when he heard someone riding rapidly up the wash the way he had come.